If investors are looking at the Global – Equity fund category, Lazard Global List Infrastructure Open (GLFOX) could be a potential option. GLFOX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
GLFOX is classified in the Global – Equity segment by Zacks, an area full of possibilities. Even though Global – Equity mutual funds invest in bigger markets like the U.S., Europe, and Japan, these kinds of funds aren’t limited by geography. Rather, they offer an investment strategy that utilizes the global economy to provide stable returns.
History of Fund/Manager
Lazard Funds is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of GLFOX. Since Lazard Global List Infrastructure Open made its debut in December of 2009, GLFOX has garnered more than $297.38 million in assets. A team of investment professionals is the fund’s current manager.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. GLFOX has a 5-year annualized total return of 11.37%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 13.3%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product’s returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund’s [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
When looking at a fund’s performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of GLFOX over the past three years is 9.16% compared to the category average of 12.18%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund’s standard deviation is 11.7% compared to the category average of 13.64%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.55, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio’s performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. GLFOX has generated a positive alpha over the past five years of 2.04, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, GLFOX is a no load fund and it has an expense ratio of 1.21%.